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Parsons church Of Christ

136 Tennessee Ave South

Parsons, TN 38363

Tel: (731) 847-2462

I Did Send Help

by David Wright

Suffering is inescapable. Some battle sickness—chronic pain, clinical depression, spinal

injuries, cancer. Others wrestle with the mental anguish caused by death, family turmoil, or

divorce. In developing countries, human suffering often involves hunger, lack of medical

care, and the endless nightmare of civil war or oppressive dictatorship. All this pain makes

the heart of a caring person ache. If that person happens to be a Chrisian, he may wonder

why God doesn’t do something.

In the book Teaching Your Children about God, David Wolpe writes of a man “who

once stood before God. ‘Dear God,’ he cried out, ‘look at all the suffering, the anguish and

distress in your world. Why don’t you send help?’ God responded, ‘I did send help. I sent

you.’”

Jesus of Nazareth “went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the

devil” (Acts 10:38). When he cured the sick and freed demoniacs, God was “doing some-

thing” about suffering. We, of course, lack the Lord’s amazing powers, and yet we are the

members of His “body” (1 Cor. 12:27). We are carrying on His work. Therefore, every time

we visit the nursing home or hospital, prepare a meal for a shut-in, attend a funeral, or give

money to a needy neighbor, God is “sending help” to those in anguish and distress.